"... a quick report on Horsetail Fall. During a private workshop on Monday I had a chance to check out the water flow. I’d say it’s a little below average for mid-February, but definitely better than last year. Despite six weeks of mostly dry weather there’s still some snow on top of El Capitan to feed the waterfall, and temperatures are supposed to rise a bit this week, which should help melt that snow and increase the water volume.

The window of best light for Horsetail Fall starts this weekend and lasts about a week to ten days. If our dry spell continues we should see some clear skies at sunset during that time — an essential requirement for the Horsetail light show. But the long-range forecast calls for precipitation next Tuesday and Wednesday, so we’ll see."

WAYCOOL wrote:http://www.michaelfrye.com/articles/horsetail.html
The first time a shot this there were only maybe 25 people in the picnic area and it showed 2 nites in a row, first time I saw it there were clouds in the way near the peak the clouds parted an in about 15 seconds revealed the fall in full glory a bright cherry red a truly awe inspiring moment. The next night no cloud and the show was a gradual fade in to its peak not as dramatic but very cool to see.

I've tried 2 times sense then most recently a couple of years ago 10 time as many people maybe 200 and no success.

As other have said get there early wear warm boots extra socks the ground gets cold. I'll be there the next 2 weekends if you see me please say hi I'll be the one with a dog see avatar. ...Show more →

Hey man, I was reading your book, as I have never been to Yosemite. I wanted to hike into Cathedral Rock, but my father will be with me, and probably might get mad at that idea I will definitely say hello. I will most likely have a blue Marmot vest on and a well traveled manfrotto tripod

I am in Yosemite now. Checked Horsetail twice, the last time at 3:30 pm and I saw no water. Otherwise the conditions are appear perfect. There is apparently snow above, there just needs to be enough warmth to melt it. Maybe tomorrow.

Chuck Eklund wrote:
I am in Yosemite now. Checked Horsetail twice, the last time at 3:30 pm and I saw no water. Otherwise the conditions are appear perfect. There is apparently snow above, there just needs to be enough warmth to melt it. Maybe tomorrow.

Hey Chuck,

Now I am not there, and you are. But I will say from past experience, that I have seen no water falling or dripping at 3:30, but shortly after it slowly starts to melt enough and finally by 4:30 you see some flow with it slowly increasing towards sunset. So perhaps 3:30 might have been too early to call it off?

Eadward wrote:
Weather.com and wunderground say its quite warm in Yosemite Valley, up to 60 or so during the day on Friday/Saturday. Assuming its much cooler on top of El Capitan? How would this impact Horsetail?

The word is there is some snow up on top of El Capitan, so in theory, the warmer it is, the more that will melt, and the more that will flow down Horsetail Falls. But as someone else pointed out from the Yosemite Webcams, the flow off of Yosemite Falls is down quite a bit from where it was 6 weeks ago with all the storms in there. Now two different water sources, except they are both high country water sources, so it can help to give an idea.

I would say from what we heard, that water flow on Horsetail will be there, but be very light. I am not sure what is going to change in the next few days to change from what the first hand reports have been over the last few days. Now wait a week, there is supposed to maybe be some precipitation there during the week, that will help. And also as it get's later, more sun will hit the surface face where Horsetail Falls is, so even if the water isn't flowing super well, with the face of the rock being lit up a bit by the sun, a person can still get some kind of cool shots.

Don't let limited water dissuade you from making the pilgrimage if you're new to this.

Even a trickle coupled with the slick, shiny granite will produce an exciting apparition because the main attraction is really the stunning impression made when you see a brilliant vertical streak of sunlit water/rock against the dark granite wall in shade, when your eye doesn't expect to see light there.

And, the comraderie enjoyed with a group of like-minded photogs on site is also worth the trip.

You hit the nail on the head. Today(Thursday) Horsetail had some water in the morning, but by noon it appeared dry. But by 4:30 or so there was a light flow. It was not spectacular, but something and I'm sure an incentive for those staying to return Friday. I have to say even though I didn't get what I had hoped for on this my second try it was still fun - nice people - and I am sure I will be pleased with the light I did capture.

In addition to selling dozens of prints over the years, here is a link to one of our many Horsetail photos sold as a book cover to illustrate the work of French philosopher, intellectual and Sorbonne professor, Henry Corbin. The editor thought the scene of Horsetail Fall very aptly illustrated the mystical qualities in the author's work:

Was planning on driving up today based on Michael Frye's tweet earlier this week (referenced in the email posted above). He tweeted today that the flow is disappointing. He did add with the low flow that the Southside Drive spot from his book/app is a better option than the picnic area. If you don't have the app, it's worth it even if you already have his book if only for the realtime azimuth of sunrise/sunset from each of his photo locations.

+1. Michael Frye is a big help and does it so selflessly. Got his horsetail falls update on email. :-)

LA_Sportsman wrote:
Was planning on driving up today based on Michael Frye's tweet earlier this week (referenced in the email posted above). He tweeted today that the flow is disappointing. He did add with the low flow that the Southside Drive spot from his book/app is a better option than the picnic area. If you don't have the app, it's worth it even if you already have his book if only for the realtime azimuth of sunrise/sunset from each of his photo locations.

From a friend of mine who was up there last night (Friday night), they didn't see any water flowing at all. So with the forecast of snow coming this week later according to Dustin, next weekend would be the better weekend than this.